The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday ratcheted up a joint call for countries to adopt bans and restrictions on use of autonomous weapons systems \u2014 often known as \u201ckiller robots\u201d \u2014 warning that \u201cthe risks have intensified.\u201d<\/p>\n
Building on an initial appeal three years ago and international talks on the issue for years, the appeal stops short of calling for a blanket ban, but notes that such weapons systems are being developed \u2014 though the U.N. and Red Cross haven\u2019t confirmed their use on the battlefield. <\/p>\n
The organizations said, however, that civilians need to be protected for when that day may come.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are now dangerously close to crossing a moral red line: The autonomous targeting of humans by machines,\u201d said U.N. Geneva spokesperson Alessandra Vellucci, reading a joint statement by U.N. Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres and ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, we renew this call with even greater urgency,\u201d the statement said. \u201cThe fundamental concerns remain unchanged, but the risks have intensified.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two international organizations say the development of weapons technology at \u201crecord speed\u201d has strained the international rules system, and widened the gap between technological capacities and regulatory constraints.<\/p>\n
\u201cAutonomous weapons systems are not part of a distant future \u2014 a race toward greater autonomy in weapons systems is already well underway,\u201d the joint statement said.<\/p>\n
The call comes as negotiators are set to meet in Geneva in November on ways of strengthening the existing Convention on Conventional Weapons, with the U.N. and ICRC saying the conference \u201coffers the clearest path available\u201d to move toward binding legal rules on the use of such autonomous systems.<\/p>\n
The yearslong effort to rein in the use of autonomous weapons systems has struggled to produce limits. The new push comes against the backdrop of drones and other technologies used in conflicts as diverse as the Russia-Ukraine war, the Middle East, Sudan and others.<\/p>\n
Ground robotic vehicles have so far been used on the Ukrainian battlefield primarily to ferry supplies to infantry and carry out evacuations, because of Ukraine\u2019s need to preserve manpower amid the growing prevalence of drones.<\/p>\n
Kyiv is now seeking to scale up armed robotic systems to reduce the pressure on increasingly outnumbered infantry by equipping them with firing power, but those efforts have been limited so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cScientists and engineers developing these systems have themselves raised the alarm,\u201d the organizations said. \u201cWhen the architects of this technology are calling for limits, states cannot afford to remain passive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year must mark a turning point,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
Keaten writes for the Associated Press. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday ratcheted up a joint call…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,73661,12903,73666,73668,73662,14381,73664,34505,13902,73663,22848,73667,5221,73665,573],"class_list":["post-150731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-autonomous-weapon-system","tag-drone","tag-infantry","tag-initial-appeal","tag-joint-call","tag-joint-statement","tag-killer-robot-intensifie","tag-limit","tag-organization","tag-other-technology","tag-race","tag-u-n","tag-use","tag-weapon-technology","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}